It's murder: Indonesian maid dies of alleged abuse

KLANG: The Indonesian maid who was allegedly abused and found locked up in a toilet has died in hospital, and her case has been reclassified as murder.
Mautik Hani, 36, from Surabaya, who had multiple injuries on various parts of her body, died in the intensive care unit of the Tengku Ampuan Rahimah Hospital at about 10am on Monday.
Two officers from the Indonesian Embassy and Selangor executive councillor Dr Xavier Jayakumar were at the hospital on Monday to gather more information on the situation.
Mautik, who had a severe wound on her leg as well as bruises on her arms and face, was rescued by police from a house in Taman Sentosa on Oct 20.
She was found in the toilet of the house following a tip-off.
A married couple, believed to be her employers, have been arrested by police and remanded for further investigations.
Tengku Ampuan Rahimah Hospital director Dr Ghazali Hasni Md Hassan said the victim, who had suffered multiple injuries, was admitted to the ICU last Saturday.
She was unconscious and died without regaining conscious, he added.
Dr Ghazali said Mautik was treated by a group of medical specialists, including orthopedic and anesthetic specialists, and a surgical team.
She was due for surgery but was not fit yet, he said, adding that she had not responded to antibiotics and drugs.
She was also suffering from malnutrition and dehydration, he added.
District police chief Asst Comm Mohamad Mat Yusop said the case had been reclassified under Section 302 of the Penal Code for murder. It was initially investigated under Section 326 for voluntarily causing grievous hurt by dangerous weapons.
ACP Mohamad said a post-mortem would be carried out to determine the cause of death.
“We are looking for at least three more people to help us in our investigations,” he added.
It is learnt that police are looking for the male employer’s mother, who also stayed in the same house, the informer who found Mautik, and a former employer of Mautik.
A 29-year-old woman was arrested on the same day Mautik was found and her husband surrendered to the police the following day.
The woman would be remanded until Tuesday and the man until Wednesday.
Mautik is believed to have worked in the house for the past two months and was locked in the toilet for two days before she was discovered.
She did not have any valid travel documents when she was rescued.
Dr Xavier said the Selangor state government expressed its deepest condolences to Mautik’s family and was prepared to help if her family needed help in sending the body home or if family members wanted to come to Malaysia to claim the body.